Episode:Sweet Sixteen
|Image_Size = 200px |EpisodeYearxNo = 1999x069 |Series = 15 |Airdate = 2 November 1999 |Written_By = Marc Pye |Produced_By = - |Directed_By = Christopher Hodson |Prev = Father's Day |Next = Denial |EpisodeNo = 1458 |onscreen-credits = }}Sweet Sixteen is the 1458th episode of The Bill DC Rod Skase leaves Stingers nightclub with his arm round a young woman, Mandy (Lara Cazalet). They kiss and talk, Mandy clearly unaware that DI Chris Deakin and DC Duncan Lennox are listening in through a wire, laughing among themselves at Rod's chat up techniques. As DC Tom Proctor prepares to leave the club to follow Rod and Mandy, he's stopped by a woman screaming for help, and decides to stay back to give first aid to a man who has collapsed after taking ecstasy. As Rod and Mandy head to Rod's car, she persuades him to follow her to her own car in an underground car park, causing the wire to lose signal. Unable to hear Rod, Chris tries to ring Tom, who is still desperately trying to perform CPR on the overdose victim. As Rod and Mandy reach the car, Mandy's demeanour changes and she knees Rod in the stomach as he is set upon from behind by three masked girls before being tied up and put in the car. As the girls go through his wallet, they discover his warrant card. The other girls start to get apprehensive and think it's better if they let him go now, but Mandy has other ideas and orders them to drive off. As they leave the car park, the signal comes back and Chris and Duncan listen in as the girls discuss what to do with Rod. Eventually, they leave him by the side of the road, still tied up, with his trousers around his ankles and he is soon picked up by some highly amused Barton Street officers. Back at the station, Chris is livid and is determined to find out what went wrong. Rod insists he had to go along with Mandy to her car or blow his cover completely, and insists he did his best to tell them where he was, unaware that his wire wasn't working. Chris puts the blame for the failure solely on Rod, but Rod is adamant the girls will try again, and Duncan convinces Chris to continue with the obbo. As Chris makes his way out of the station, he is stopped by a young girl in tears who tells him her sister, Gillian, is in intensive care after taking some ecstacy at Stingers nightclub. The following morning, Rod is in a foul mood, snapping at DS John Boulton when he asks how Rod is. Duncan asks Rod to accompany him to the front office, where a car dealer informs them that he was robbed that night, by the same girls that abducted Rod, but this time the girl calling herself Mandy was blonde. Elsewhere, John is talking to Lucy, the sister of the girl in intensive care, who says she is unsure that she would recognise the girl again and that they thought the pills were harmless. John is not impressed, and later calls DS Claire Stanton to inform her that Gillian has died. PCs Cass Rickman and Sam Harker are called to a disturbance, and find two girls mouthing off in the street after throwing a brick through a man's window, claiming the man's been spying on them. Sam goes to talk to Mr Newman, who admits he has been filming the girls, but as part of a neighbourhood watch campaign, and he shows Sam footage of the girls involved in what he believes is a drugs deal. Sam says it isn't enough to go on, and Mr Newman doesn't have the car registration details, but it looks like the same car Mandy and the girl gang have been using. Mr Newman also points out that the girls wear a lot of expensive clothes and jewellery, despite the fact they don't have jobs. Rod and Duncan return to Stingers, and Duncan admits to Rod that he'd love to have something to pin on the owner, who'd hospitalised two teenage boys the week before. The owner, Garret, insists the pills couldn't have been bought from the club and that he'd had the local dealers scared away from Stingers. With nothing to go on, the two go back to CID, where Duncan is called in to discuss a second sting being set up to catch the girl gang. Rod is unhappy that he's been left out, but Clare reminds him that the girl gang can ID him, and says he'll be assisting her with the drugs investigation. She also points out the operation is about getting dangerous criminals off the street, not soothing his ego. At the casino, Tom, John and Duncan wait to be approached by the girls, but things go wrong when Tom is recognised by a woman he's nicked before and Mandy and the girls are spooked. They try to make a run for it, but John and Duncan arrest Mandy and one of her associates, while the others girls manage to evade Tom. Searching the girls bags, they find one of the masks, along with a bag of ecstacy pills. Sam is watching a tape that Mr Newman has bought in, saying it clearly shows the registration of the car in which another drug deal is taking place. Cass goes to check the registration of the car, and is interrupted by Chris Deakin. Realising that the car belongs to one of the girls they've arrested, Cass goes to get the tape while Rod convinces Chris to let him in on the interview. In interview, Mandy is callous and is unwilling to talk, except to wind Rod up, but Chris and John are having more luck getting through to Paula, who is scared and crying, and who finally IDs Garret as their supplier. As Chris goes to arrange a raid on Stingers, Rod gets the girls pager numbers from Duncan, saying he has a plan. At the club, Chris convinces Garret to hold a minutes silence, which allows Rod to set the pagers off and allowing Cass, Sam and Clare to pick out the girls from the crowd while Duncan arrests Garret. As Duncan and Rod reflect on a night's work, Duncan suggests they go to a club - Rod not so gracefully declines. Julian Rivett and Katie Lyons guest star as Vincent Garrett and Nicole Fletcher in this episode. *Iain Fletcher as D.C. Skase *George Rossi as D.C. Lennox *Russell Boulter as D.S. Boulton *Shaun Scott as D.I. Deakin *Matthew Crompton as P.C. Harker *Suzanne Maddock as P.C. Rickman *Clara Salaman as D.S. Stanton *Gregory Donaldson as D.C. Proctor *Clive Wedderburn as P.C. McCann Sweet Sixteen Sweet Sixteen